Whispers in the Dark
by Odd Pudding
Summary: A series of one-shots about Shadows life with Maria and Gerald in the Ark, leading up to the events of Sonic adventure 2.
1. Discovery

**Trying something new! It'll just be a series of one-shots about Shadows Life on the ARK with Maria and Gerald. Let me know if you like it!**

Grandpa was hiding something.  
For the last week Maria's grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, had sequestered himself in the Prime Laboratory and hardily spent _any_ time with her. She knew something was going on with his 'Project Shadow', but when she asked her grandfather about it he would just laugh and dismiss her- which irritated her to the point of tantrum. Tantrum wasn't just an emotion, though, she often used tantrums to get something out of her soft-hearted grandfather when other more rational methods weren't working… Alas, though, this secret was apparently too grand and special for him to tell her even after she had thrown herself to the ground in a red-faced fit.  
She had to take matters into her own hands… And she planned to do _just that_.

The little 10 year old blond pattered down the hallways of the Ark Colony, bunny slipper slapping against cold steel and powder blue nightgown billowing around her ankles, in her hands she held a thermos of coffee. She was headed straight for the Prime Laboratory, where the 'Project Shadow' rested. This was, of course, a heavily guarded part of the facility… But it was a little less secure at night since most people were asleep and… Well… Midnight bandits were less of an issue out in space. At night, the security Cameras and a handful of guards were sufficient enough- that is why the little girl Maria chose to strike now. That and she knew the guard who was stationed at the Labs door well enough that she was sure he could be convinced to leave his post.

Maria smiled brightly and waved cheerfully as she approached this guard. "Hi Anthony!" She said brightly, giggling when Anthony expressed shock.

"Miss Robotnik? What are you doing up and about at this hour? Shouldn't you be resting?" He asked, pushing his helmet visor up to give her a concerned expression. Maria 'tsk'ed and shook her head, a little annoyed; Everyone always treated her like a ticking time-bomb… Well she'd show them a ticking Time-bomb.

"Oh, stoppit, I'm fine. Anyway, I brought you some coffee!" She said with an overly sweet smile, bouncing right up to his side and handing him the thermos with both hands. Anthony looked from Maria to the thermos, then smiled wearily.

"I… Thanks. You didn't have to do that- But… Thank you." He said, unsure of what this meant. Maria had a bit of a reputation of being sneaky.

"Sure I did! I heard you talking to grandpa, you said you didn't sleep well. I couldn't sleep so… oh..." Maria said, letting her eyes drift off with her sentence. She suddenly let out a long, drawn sigh, her body drooped and she clutched her chest with her hands. "...Ohh…" She moaned quietly, accompanying the moan with a few pants.  
This stirred Anthony to his feet, scrambling around her like an agitated puppy.

"Ah-! Are you okay? You shouldn't have come! I'll carry you to the Medical wing!" The guard said frantically, leaning over to scoop her up. Maria, however, raised a hand to stop him.

"N-no- I'm just dizzy… I'll be alright in-in a minute…" She said with a deep sigh. "C-can I sit in your chair?" She asked meekly, looking up at him with almost tearful eyes. Anthony blinked, then nodded, assisting her to the chair and staring at her fearfully. Maria took a moment just to rest, then turned her eye back to Anthony, an apologetic expression on her face. "Would you… Please… Go get me a glass of water?" She asked in a small voice, clasping her little hands together like a beggar. Anthony had an almost electric reaction, nodding and straightening up.

"Yeah! Of course! I'll- I'll be right back!" He said, then spun around and jogged off down the hall. Maria watched him carefully as he went, face still stretched in exasperation.  
However… As soon as the guard disappeared around a corner, Maria sprung up from the chair like a mischievous pixie and scampered over to the large lab door.  
Maria smiled to herself as she dug through the pocket of her nightgown, searching for the keycard she stole from her grandpa's labcoat. Everyone _always_ fell for the ' _oh dear, I'm suddenly not feeling well!_ ' card… She supposed because half the time it _wasn't_ a trick… But whatever.

Maria reached up with her grandpa's key-card, swiping it in the lock and pulling the door open as she heard the click of admittance. She slipped in quietly, the door swinging closed behind her.  
It should have been dark in the Prime Laboratory at this time of night; Only pinpricks of color would shine on the faces of great computing monoliths that stood like pillars throughout the room… But this time there was a great green brightness that filled the room, cutting shadows through the space. Maria blinked at this, feeling a bit more apprehensive than she had before. She stepped around the computing pillars to see a large tube filled to the top with incandescent green liquid- within the liquid she could just make out a form within, blurred by the brightness.

The last time she was here, her grandfather was showing her the little gekko he had made… He insisted it was an Ultimate Life-form, but she knew a gecko when she saw one! Either way… This didn't look like a gecko, and suddenly Maria found herself feeling a bit hesitant.  
Perhaps her Grandpa didn't want to tell her what was here… Because he had made a monster? Maybe it was dangerous… She looked back at the door she came from, her little hands pulling at her skirt as she contemplated turning back. It didn't take long for her to decide she had already come too far to turn back- and she would be miserable if she didn't find out what was in that tube.  
Gathering her courage, Maria took slow steps toward the tube, squinting in the green brightness. The figure in the tube slowly took shape as she approached- darker and darker, sharp spines reaching upward, strange shapes and inhuman limbs.

She blinked when she finally came close enough to the tube to touch it. It was… a Hedgehog? Maria reached out to touch the tube, bringing her body closer to examine the black and red animal. Wires stretched up from the form, Gold rings glimmered around its 4 extremities… This was grandpa's project? This was the Ultimate Life-form? Maria couldn't help but smile… It was pretty cute for an 'ultimate life-form'.  
"Hello?" She said, tapping on the glass tube with her little finger- watching the Project like one would watch fish in an aquarium. The Hedgehog's ear flicked, then its eyes cracked open, bubbles floating up from out of its mouth as it raised its head to look at her.

The blond girl now pressed her nose against the glass, watching with great interest as the animal moved, smiling amusedly at its lazy expression.  
"You don't look very smart!" She said with a short, bright laugh. The creature blinked Its eyes open wider, seeming as interested in her as she was in It… Then It smiled along with her, though the smile was tired and vapid. Maria felt a flutter of excitement at this reaction. "Ooh…" She gasping emphatically, sliding to her knees to watch the Project, hands pressed against the glass.  
Project Shadow looked at both her little hands, then lifted Its own, pressing them against the inside of the tube to mirror hers, Its hands dwarfing hers by no small measure.

Maria looked from hand to hand, then back up to the hedgehog's face, humming thoughtfully. "Alright… You don't look like you know a lot… So I'll teach you a few things, okay?" She said to it, not even sure it could hear her.  
"I'm Maria… And you can be… Shadow."


	2. Shadow Released

Maria clung to Gerald Robotnik's sleeve like a little lost girl, her eye fixed on the iridescent tube that Contained the Pro-... Shadow, as she had deemed him. The old professor Robotnik plugged away at his keyboard, humming and hawing as his eyes scanned over the waves of information about Shadow's status; It was a big day for the whole lab, Shadow was going to be released and Gerald had to make absolutely certain his structure was solid enough. The old man looked down at his precious granddaughter with a sigh, he had not wanted her to be here for this… He hadn't wanted her to know about this project until he was certain It would survive its birth- but she had told him a week ago about her little infiltration and at that point he found it absolutely impossible to keep her away from the lab.

He supposed he couldn't blame her, being the only child on the colony she must be relentlessly bored.

Maria was getting antsy as he typed at his computer, looking up at her grandfather with anxious anticipation. "What's taking so long, grandpa? I want to meet him for real!" Her tone was impatient, but Gerald interpreted the impatience as eagerness and chuckled.

"I know you do, my dear, but remember what I told you! He's going to be like a newborn, he probably won't recognize you from anyone else." The old man patted her head, which she shook off with a sigh, though she held tighter to her grandfather's side.

"He will. We're good friends now, you'll see!" She said, though in her confidence she was a little afraid that her grandpa was right… He was awfully smart after all. Gerald chuckled again, but it was a little moarnful this time; His poor granddaughter was terribly lonely- lonely enough to befriend a- well… a tube-baby for lack of more graceful terms.

Though over the course of the week Maria had come and had interesting interaction with the project, sitting by his tube, talking to it, reading books. She also spent time on 'expression lessons' as she called them, which consisted of making faces at Shadow and waiting for the creature to mimic the expression back at her.

More often than not, Shadow would, which was certainly an interesting observation from a cognitive development standpoint. Perhaps Shadow was capable of mimicry at this point, that was excellent, but certainly not indicative of him being able to recognize familiar faces or interact socially as it seemed Maria expected him to right away...

But… Gerald glanced around his computer screen, looking at the tube which contained the black hedgehog- It was looking fixedly at Maria. Perhaps… He would be wrong.

Gerald finished up and walked away from his computer, Maria tagging along step for step, coming to a stop some feet in front of the tube. He looked at Shadow, Shadow looked at him. There was a hesitance, even as all the scientists in the room looked to him to give the command. Gerald wanted to release Shadow… But he had grown attached… And if Shadow's body wasn't strong enough to hold together without the Chaos Energy infused liquid he floated in- well he would quickly collapse into a pile of useless organic matter.

The professor took and deep breath and nodded. "Drain the pod." He said aloud, keeping his eye on the tube even as there was a bustle of movement and energy in response. Both Gerald and Maria watched carefully as the lights on the tub flashed, small drain holes opened up below Shadow, who's response to this new situation was to look down at the holes with wide eyes. It didn't take Shadow long to realize that his environment was changing, he looked up at the lowering water level and appeared to be disturbed looking to gerald as if pleading with him to do something.

The Professor watched the project with great interest at this point. He had not expected much of a reaction at all, but it appeared that Shadow was attempting to preserve his normal habitat… A very… Normal human reaction. Maria looked less amused by this, leaving Gerald's side to press herself against the Tube where Shadow writhed around, attempting now to block the drain holes with his hands.

"Don't do that! You're fine! Don't be silly!" She said to him, though the hedgehog didn't look very comforted.

It pressed itself against the bottom of the tube to keep itself under the waterline as long as possible, but eventually it broke over his face. Shadow curled up and squeezed his eyes shut in response, unmoving for a while.

Maria looked up at her grandfather with an expression of concern. "Is something wrong?" She asked fervently, looking back and forth between the two. Gerald had taken a step forward by that point and bent over to observe Shadow.

"Give him a moment, Maria. He's never been out of that liquid before." He informed the girl, who looked at him vapidly in response, not really understanding the implications of that. Shadow lay limply at the bottom of the tube, then suddenly turned over and coughed, the liquid in his body draining from him, leaving him gasping air for the first time.

Gerald smiled, nodding. "Perfect! Let him out!" He turned and shouted at the jubilant group of scientists. It was certainly something to celebrate. If Shadow could breath on his own, then the worst possibility was passed. The project, so far, was a success.

Maria backed away as the glass rose, Shadow still laying on the ground- but now moving his limbs uselessly in his new gravity. Two scientists jogged over to assist in disconnecting the Hedgehog from all the wires. Gerald was about to turn back and make some notes about his success when he heard Maria's voice.

"Shadow? Can I help too?" She asked the Scientists, who now had the creature lifted upright, checking him over with basic medical supplies. Gerald watched as Shadow looked away from the flashlight being flashed in his eye, fixing on Maria.

"Mmm… M.. Mari-a…" Shadow mumbled clumsily, catching all the scientists by surprise. Gerald had a look of shock on his face, then Maria, with a cheeky grin plastered all across her face, turned her head to her grandpa.

"Told ya." She said, then bounced over to help the scientists by handing them their implements.


End file.
